Fearne Cotton has revealed she was “shouted at” by a guard in the Vatican during a recent holiday to Rome for flouting the rules in the holy site.
The 44-year-old presenter recalled the incident on the latest episode of her podcast, The Happy Place, and said it left her “riled” as she confessed she “doesn’t like people telling her what to do”.
According to Cotton, she had missed an announcement on the tannoy instructing visitors not to take photographs of the world-famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s Renaissance masterpiece resides.
"When I was in Rome. I went on a short city break, and obviously, when you go to Rome, what do you do? You go to the Vatican, because it’s famed for the Vatican, and it’s a beautiful place to walk around,” she said.
"I was desperate to see [the painting] in real life – and obviously take a photo of it. I got in there, I didn’t realise you’re not allowed to take photos. I’d missed that tannoy announcement, and I went to take a picture.”
Visitors to the Sistine Chapel are not allowed to take photographs to protect the delicate, centuries-old frescoes from being exposed to flash photography, which can damage the pigments - as well as a means of crowd control to keep the flow of people constant.
But as soon as a guard saw Cotton breaking the strict no photography rule, he stepped in to stop her.
“I got massively reprimanded, shouted at by a very burly Italian security guard, which should have freaked me out and made me go, ‘Oh god, I’m so sorry,’ but instead, I wanted to go, ‘F*** off!’”
She then clarified: “I would never do that in the Sistine Chapel, obvs.”
Following the incident, Cotton said she was “so riled”, adding: “I want to take a picture of it, I’ve not got my flash on, why is it a problem?
“I also understand and respect that there are religious reasons, potentially, as to why I shouldn’t be taking the picture – I’m assuming, because I’m not quite sure why else."
Other strict rules that are imposed on visitors to the Sistine Chapel, which was built between 1473 and 1481, include adhering to a modest dress code, maintaining complete silence and not using mobile phones.
The Vatican guards heavily monitor the crowds in order to enforce the rules and have the power to force visitors who take photographs or videos to delete them.
Breaking the rules may also result in being removed from the site altogether.
